Defence Bot

A separate R.E.P.O. shop companion that follows a player and shoots nearby enemies. The bot has its own solid 3D body: bevelled white armour over a graphite chassis, a cyan scanning eye, two hover pods, twin barrels, a short antenna and rear service panels. Its front, back, sides, roof and underside are modelled in geometry. The old flat feather icon is hidden.

Install

Install DefenceBot through Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman, including its BepInExPack dependency. Launch R.E.P.O. using Start modded and restart the game after updates. If you previously installed a local or manual copy, remove that old copy so only one DefenceBot.dll is installed.

For manual installation, install BepInExPack first, then copy this archive's BepInEx/plugins/DefenceBot folder into your mod profile's BepInEx/plugins folder.

You can also import the ZIP through your manager's local-mod import option. Local imports do not install dependencies automatically, so install BepInExPack separately if it is missing from the profile.

This is a prototype release. Co-op remains unverified; every player needs the same version before trying it together.

Playing

1. Buy Defence Bot from randomized shop stock. Its default price uses the native Feather Drone price range and the game's shop multiplier.
2. Activate it with the normal drone controls while near the player it should follow, then release it. The connection search covers at least 3 game units and expands for larger follow-distance settings.
3. Once connected, it moves to a position about two game units beside and behind the player. It automatically tracks visible enemies within range, turns its whole body toward them, and adjusts its barrels up or down before firing.
4. Picking it up, switching it off or exhausting its battery stops its attacks. Recharge it using the game's normal drone charging system.

Walls, players and physical objects block its shots. Both its body and barrels must align with the target before it fires. The bot applies damage only to an enemy it can see; it does not use explosive projectiles or player-damage calls. It will not attack in the shop or lobby. Native drone connection, pickup and battery controls are retained, with custom movement to give the followed player more space.

The follow distance is a preferred spacing rather than a fixed tether. The bot first looks for a clear position at that distance. In tight spaces it can try a closer clear position, then return to the preferred spacing when space allows. Obstacles and recovery after falling behind can temporarily change its position.

Settings

Configuration is created at BepInEx/config/caspi.defencebot.cfg after the first modded launch.

• Combat / Damage: 25 damage per shot before native enemy resistance.
• Combat / Range: 12 game units.
• Combat / FireInterval: 0.8 seconds between shots.
• Movement / FollowDistance: preferred spacing beside and behind the followed player, in game units. Default 2; adjustable from 1.2 to 4. Obstacles can temporarily change the actual distance.
• Shop / BasePrice: 0 uses the native Feather Drone price range. A positive value sets a custom base price before shop multipliers; restart after changing.

The host's settings control damage, range, firing rate and follow distance. Every co-op player needs the same mod version.

Prototype status

Version 0.1.3 targets R.E.P.O. v0.4.4.3. The earlier follow failure was reproduced: the bot mistook part of the followed player for an obstacle. This update corrects that ownership check, widens the connection search and adds closer fallback positions in tight spaces.

A visible single-player test passed player connection, movement following, steady 2-unit spacing, body/barrel aiming, native enemy health damage and wall blocking. Combat used a native duck with its AI paused; its normal health and damage methods were retained. Ordinary shop purchase, moving enemies with active AI, narrow passages, charging, save/load and co-op remain unverified. See TESTING.md for measured results and limits.

The native Feather Drone is cloned at runtime and its feather effect is replaced for this item only. The base game supplies its item, physics, movement, battery and networking components. This package contains original code and procedural robot geometry, created with AI assistance, and does not redistribute the game's assets.

The package badge is an original vector illustration of the bot's white/graphite body, cyan eye and twin barrels. It is not an in-game screenshot.

0.1.3

• Corrects the reproduced follow failure: the followed player's health-grab collider was incorrectly treated as a wall.
• Uses a narrow visibility check from the player to a candidate position while retaining collision checks for the bot's full body and movement path.
• Expands the native player connection search to at least 3 game units, or the configured follow distance plus 0.75 when larger.
• Keeps the preferred 2-unit follow spacing by default, with closer clear fallback positions when a room is too tight.
• Retains smooth whole-body turning and barrel alignment before firing.
• Passed visible single-player connection, movement following, steady spacing and aimed damage checks against a controlled native enemy, including wall blocking before and after firing.

0.1.2

• Added a preferred follow position about two game units beside and behind the connected player.
• Added Movement / FollowDistance, adjustable from 1.2 to 4 game units; the host's setting applies.
• Added obstacle-aware spacing and recovery movement while retaining native connection, pickup and battery controls.
• The whole physical body turns smoothly toward a target, and the barrels adjust their pitch.
• Firing waits until the body and barrels align, then checks the shot path again from the aimed muzzle.
• Targets beyond the barrels' vertical aiming limit are skipped so they do not prevent attacks on reachable enemies.

0.1.1

• Fixed invisible robot geometry: visual meshes now use the native visible renderer layer instead of the item root's camera-excluded helper layer.
• Rebuilt the body to match the concept, with solid bevelled armour, capped hover pods, recessed visor, twin barrels, antenna and rear details.
• Hid the old flat feather icon while retaining native control references.
• Fitted the pickup collider to the new body.

0.1.0

• Separate purchasable Defence Bot item.
• Native player-following drone movement and rechargeable power.
• Host-controlled attacks against visible nearby enemies.
• Original hovering robot model with cyan eye and twin barrels.
• Configurable damage, range, firing interval and shop price.